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Friday, July 18, 2014
Day 6 Embryo Update
Sadly, one of our little embryos didn't make it. The other one reached blast stage and was frozen. I'm so conflicted right now. I have no idea if I should bank again or just get on with a transfer. I wish someone would just make the decision for me. I think next week I will ask to be put on my doctor's call back list and see what his opinion is. Why can't anything about this ever be easy!
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Day 5 Embryo Update
Out of our three good looking day 2 embryos, we had one frozen today with a grading of 4AB. Very good! The other two were lagging a bit and were at the cavitating stage which is the stage right before blastocyst - typically seen on day 4 1/2, so they're really not too far behind. Hopefully they will make blast by tomorrow. Praying they make blast. I really really really don't want to have to do another retrieval.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Day 2 Update
I was a little bummed about not getting an update yesterday since the clinic doesn't email on Sundays, but by waiting until today, the day 2 report was also included and I love getting any extra info!
Five eggs were retrieved. Three were mature and and fertilized. The other two eggs were immature and they did not mature by the next day. The three that were still growing today all had the same grading of 421. This means they each had four cells, there was less than 10% of fragmentation (fragmentation has to be 0% to score a 1) and the cells were even in symmetry. Pretty darn good if you ask me!
My travels home yesterday went about as smoothly as they could have. I have never been so happy to fall asleep in my own bed. I have just a few more errands to run today before I can snuggle up on the couch with my DVR and maybe take a little nap.
Next report will be Thursday. I'm hoping and praying all three of our embryos grow into beautiful blasts. It would be nice to look forward to a transfer in September. Grow little ones, grow!
Five eggs were retrieved. Three were mature and and fertilized. The other two eggs were immature and they did not mature by the next day. The three that were still growing today all had the same grading of 421. This means they each had four cells, there was less than 10% of fragmentation (fragmentation has to be 0% to score a 1) and the cells were even in symmetry. Pretty darn good if you ask me!
My travels home yesterday went about as smoothly as they could have. I have never been so happy to fall asleep in my own bed. I have just a few more errands to run today before I can snuggle up on the couch with my DVR and maybe take a little nap.
Next report will be Thursday. I'm hoping and praying all three of our embryos grow into beautiful blasts. It would be nice to look forward to a transfer in September. Grow little ones, grow!
Saturday, July 12, 2014
IVF #9 Retrieval Results and Chaos
What a crazy day and a half I just survived. I received orders on Wednesday to trigger Thursday night. My flight to California was booked for Friday. (If you want to skip the long story about my adventures, feel free to skip to the end to find out the retrieval results).
On Friday my day started by going to acupuncture. Upon checking in I discovered they failed to put my appointment in the computer when I called the previous day. (Never mind that over two days I called repeatedly to try and make an appointment and kept getting put on hold for 5min + each time) Thankfully my acupuncturist squeezed me in.
We ended up booking my flight to leave from a city 2 1/2 hours away because it saved about $500. Usually the city we live in is cheaper than the one I drove to. Friday after lunch I jumped in the car and went on my way. I gave myself a good buffer and made it to the airport with more than enough time to spare.
I had already checked in for my flight so all I needed to do was drop my bag and go through security. My bag was small enough to qualify for carry-on, but with only a 45min layover I didn't want to deal with dragging it through the airport. The agent at the counter must have been new. Or lazy. He took f o r e v e r. And not one, but TWO people cut in front of me. Apparently giving the person at the counter in front of me four feet of personal space is an invite to cut in line. I had lots of time so I didn't let myself worry about it.
I proceeded to the security line where a lady got in line behind me with her three bratty kids. She was one of those parents that obviously have absolutely no control over their kids. I lost track of how many times I got kicked or had one of the brats yank on my backpack. It took all my strength to not say or do anything.
I made it through security and grabbed a bottle of water and a snack. I then sat and watched my plane land and sit a ways back from the gate for over an hour. Apparently the airport was extremely short staffed and there wasn't an agent available to deplane. Finally boarded the plane almost half an hour late. I was starting to panic as I only had a 45min layover. Once everyone boarded the pilot told us there was a ground stop in Denver and they were waiting for more info. After 45min the pilot announced we were going to de-plane. Then he decided not to. Then when we finally got clearance to fly, an hour and half after we were supposed to leave, a passenger decided she wanted to get off because she didn't think she would make her connection. And of course she had a checked bag.
During the time spent waiting on the plane as I was in panic mode. Freaking out trying to search for alternative flights to get me to California. My husband was at home doing his best to help as well. Luckily due to the weather my connecting flight was also pushed back because the plane was flying in from elsewhere. Finally flying into Denver the storms had recently cleared and we flew right through the middle of a beautiful double rainbow. That had to be a good sign, right?! As soon as I landed I discovered I had very little time to make my connection as the delayed time on my connection had been bumped up. We landed at some gate in the 80's and my connection was leaving from gate 20. If you've been to the Denver airport you know how freaking long it is. Here's where my last minute decision to check my bag totally saved my ass. My first flight was on an itty bitty plane that makes you tag your carry-on to have it stowed below. If I had to wait for my bag and drag it with me I never would have made my connection. I was the first one off the plane and bolted. My decision to start running a month ago paid off yesterday. Although, I did manage to lightly sprain my foot running in my flip flops. Another saving grace was the connecting flight was delayed 10min due to a delay on getting luggage transferred. I arrived gasping for air as the last few passengers were boarding. I have never been so happy to collapse onto my seat.
Flying into Orange County I was looking out the window to see if I could spot my hotel. I found it and then I noticed we flew really low right past the airport...and then we ascended a little and kept flying...out over the ocean...and we kept going...and then the plane dipped and turned...by that point I was completely freaking out. I kept looking around the plane and NO ONE else seemed to notice what was happening. The final destination movies kept popping up in my head. It was creepy. Finally the pilot came on. Apparently the flight deck screwed up and had the plane coming in too close so we had to fly out and turn around.
I was so very very happy to finally be on the ground in Orange County. I made my way down to baggage claim to wait for my bag and discovered it didn't make it. I spoke with someone and they assured me it would arrive the next morning and be delivered to my hotel. I always carry most of my essentials with me in my backpack. Only from now on I will start adding a change of clothes. And true to their word, my bag was delivered to my hotel right when I got back from my retrieval.
Retrieval was scheduled for 9:30 and I was to arrive at the clinic at 9. I checked in and waited. And waited. And waited. Ten minutes before my scheduled retrieval I was stressing out and went up to ask the receptionist why I hadn't been called back. She was rather bitchy about it and I returned to my seat and tried not to freak out. My mood certainly wasn't helped by the fact that not one, not two, but THREE stupid patients brought their kids with. The clinic has a no children allowed policy and signs are posted everywhere. Two of them had a spouse with so there was ABSOLUTELY NO REASON for their child to be there. Going through IVF for so long has made me very sensitive to that. It's bad enough my local clinic I monitor at dumps all patients together so I'm always surrounded by pregnant bellies there. Finally at 9:30 I was called back and the retrieval took place 10min after my scheduled time. They always take your blood pressure before the procedure and my first one was high enough the nurse made me retake it. Perhaps I wouldn't have been so worked up of they called me back on time and other patients were expected to follow clinic policy. I found out later they were running behind in the morning because several patients hadn't bothered to submit all the required paperwork before hand.
I had two large follicles on my right side and those didn't hurt very much. My left side had one large and four medium ones. My left side had always been painful. I'm sure it's a combination of endo and likely nerve damage from all my surgeries. And I wonder if where they took my left tube is still healing. The first four follicles went well, but the last one, not so much. The Dr. had a difficult time aspirating the follicle. He got about half the liquid and then waited for the embryologist to check the fluid. No egg was found so he went back in and was able to drain more of the fluid. No egg was recovered from the follicle. I almost wonder if it wasn't the cyst that was seen at baseline. Either way, it's drained. It was pretty painful near the end since he stabbed that last follicle so many times.
Ultimately five eggs were retrieved. Three from the largest follicles and two from the medium sized ones. Hopefully we will have at least three or more mature eggs. The clinic doesn't email on Sundays so I will have to wait patiently until Monday for an update.
Laying on the table for retrieval and it was emotional hard thinking that I was last there five months ago for my transfer. I'm not one who really goes looking for signs, but I do take note when things jump out at me. Once they had me in the stirrups I noticed the song Happy playing in the background. The song was pretty popular when I was pregnant so I heard it all the time and it was very fitting up until I lost the baby. When I was back resting after the retrieval the song Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen was playing. I listened to it so many times after my grandma died this winter because it helped comfort me. It brought me peace today as well.
Praying and hoping we end up with some great quality blasts. We decided to go with the two cycle package. I'm getting to the point where I just don't want to keep doing IVF. It's getting really old and I do worry about the wear and tear on my body.
Checking out after my procedure was an ordeal. Our embryo storage fee was due in May and we had sent in the payment by filling out the credit card authorization. We never got another bill so we assumed it was taken care of so I was caught off guard when they said we hadn't paid it yet. After some frantic messaging with my husband we discovered they never did charge our card. All is well now.
I'm looking forward to returning home tomorrow. There's a 30% chance of thunderstorms in Denver tomorrow, but since there's no rush to get home I won't be panicked if there are any delays. Good job making it to the end of my long story. I typed it all on my phone so any errors will have to wait until I'm home before getting fixed.
On Friday my day started by going to acupuncture. Upon checking in I discovered they failed to put my appointment in the computer when I called the previous day. (Never mind that over two days I called repeatedly to try and make an appointment and kept getting put on hold for 5min + each time) Thankfully my acupuncturist squeezed me in.
We ended up booking my flight to leave from a city 2 1/2 hours away because it saved about $500. Usually the city we live in is cheaper than the one I drove to. Friday after lunch I jumped in the car and went on my way. I gave myself a good buffer and made it to the airport with more than enough time to spare.
I had already checked in for my flight so all I needed to do was drop my bag and go through security. My bag was small enough to qualify for carry-on, but with only a 45min layover I didn't want to deal with dragging it through the airport. The agent at the counter must have been new. Or lazy. He took f o r e v e r. And not one, but TWO people cut in front of me. Apparently giving the person at the counter in front of me four feet of personal space is an invite to cut in line. I had lots of time so I didn't let myself worry about it.
I proceeded to the security line where a lady got in line behind me with her three bratty kids. She was one of those parents that obviously have absolutely no control over their kids. I lost track of how many times I got kicked or had one of the brats yank on my backpack. It took all my strength to not say or do anything.
I made it through security and grabbed a bottle of water and a snack. I then sat and watched my plane land and sit a ways back from the gate for over an hour. Apparently the airport was extremely short staffed and there wasn't an agent available to deplane. Finally boarded the plane almost half an hour late. I was starting to panic as I only had a 45min layover. Once everyone boarded the pilot told us there was a ground stop in Denver and they were waiting for more info. After 45min the pilot announced we were going to de-plane. Then he decided not to. Then when we finally got clearance to fly, an hour and half after we were supposed to leave, a passenger decided she wanted to get off because she didn't think she would make her connection. And of course she had a checked bag.
During the time spent waiting on the plane as I was in panic mode. Freaking out trying to search for alternative flights to get me to California. My husband was at home doing his best to help as well. Luckily due to the weather my connecting flight was also pushed back because the plane was flying in from elsewhere. Finally flying into Denver the storms had recently cleared and we flew right through the middle of a beautiful double rainbow. That had to be a good sign, right?! As soon as I landed I discovered I had very little time to make my connection as the delayed time on my connection had been bumped up. We landed at some gate in the 80's and my connection was leaving from gate 20. If you've been to the Denver airport you know how freaking long it is. Here's where my last minute decision to check my bag totally saved my ass. My first flight was on an itty bitty plane that makes you tag your carry-on to have it stowed below. If I had to wait for my bag and drag it with me I never would have made my connection. I was the first one off the plane and bolted. My decision to start running a month ago paid off yesterday. Although, I did manage to lightly sprain my foot running in my flip flops. Another saving grace was the connecting flight was delayed 10min due to a delay on getting luggage transferred. I arrived gasping for air as the last few passengers were boarding. I have never been so happy to collapse onto my seat.
Flying into Orange County I was looking out the window to see if I could spot my hotel. I found it and then I noticed we flew really low right past the airport...and then we ascended a little and kept flying...out over the ocean...and we kept going...and then the plane dipped and turned...by that point I was completely freaking out. I kept looking around the plane and NO ONE else seemed to notice what was happening. The final destination movies kept popping up in my head. It was creepy. Finally the pilot came on. Apparently the flight deck screwed up and had the plane coming in too close so we had to fly out and turn around.
I was so very very happy to finally be on the ground in Orange County. I made my way down to baggage claim to wait for my bag and discovered it didn't make it. I spoke with someone and they assured me it would arrive the next morning and be delivered to my hotel. I always carry most of my essentials with me in my backpack. Only from now on I will start adding a change of clothes. And true to their word, my bag was delivered to my hotel right when I got back from my retrieval.
Retrieval was scheduled for 9:30 and I was to arrive at the clinic at 9. I checked in and waited. And waited. And waited. Ten minutes before my scheduled retrieval I was stressing out and went up to ask the receptionist why I hadn't been called back. She was rather bitchy about it and I returned to my seat and tried not to freak out. My mood certainly wasn't helped by the fact that not one, not two, but THREE stupid patients brought their kids with. The clinic has a no children allowed policy and signs are posted everywhere. Two of them had a spouse with so there was ABSOLUTELY NO REASON for their child to be there. Going through IVF for so long has made me very sensitive to that. It's bad enough my local clinic I monitor at dumps all patients together so I'm always surrounded by pregnant bellies there. Finally at 9:30 I was called back and the retrieval took place 10min after my scheduled time. They always take your blood pressure before the procedure and my first one was high enough the nurse made me retake it. Perhaps I wouldn't have been so worked up of they called me back on time and other patients were expected to follow clinic policy. I found out later they were running behind in the morning because several patients hadn't bothered to submit all the required paperwork before hand.
I had two large follicles on my right side and those didn't hurt very much. My left side had one large and four medium ones. My left side had always been painful. I'm sure it's a combination of endo and likely nerve damage from all my surgeries. And I wonder if where they took my left tube is still healing. The first four follicles went well, but the last one, not so much. The Dr. had a difficult time aspirating the follicle. He got about half the liquid and then waited for the embryologist to check the fluid. No egg was found so he went back in and was able to drain more of the fluid. No egg was recovered from the follicle. I almost wonder if it wasn't the cyst that was seen at baseline. Either way, it's drained. It was pretty painful near the end since he stabbed that last follicle so many times.
Ultimately five eggs were retrieved. Three from the largest follicles and two from the medium sized ones. Hopefully we will have at least three or more mature eggs. The clinic doesn't email on Sundays so I will have to wait patiently until Monday for an update.
Laying on the table for retrieval and it was emotional hard thinking that I was last there five months ago for my transfer. I'm not one who really goes looking for signs, but I do take note when things jump out at me. Once they had me in the stirrups I noticed the song Happy playing in the background. The song was pretty popular when I was pregnant so I heard it all the time and it was very fitting up until I lost the baby. When I was back resting after the retrieval the song Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen was playing. I listened to it so many times after my grandma died this winter because it helped comfort me. It brought me peace today as well.
Praying and hoping we end up with some great quality blasts. We decided to go with the two cycle package. I'm getting to the point where I just don't want to keep doing IVF. It's getting really old and I do worry about the wear and tear on my body.
Checking out after my procedure was an ordeal. Our embryo storage fee was due in May and we had sent in the payment by filling out the credit card authorization. We never got another bill so we assumed it was taken care of so I was caught off guard when they said we hadn't paid it yet. After some frantic messaging with my husband we discovered they never did charge our card. All is well now.
I'm looking forward to returning home tomorrow. There's a 30% chance of thunderstorms in Denver tomorrow, but since there's no rush to get home I won't be panicked if there are any delays. Good job making it to the end of my long story. I typed it all on my phone so any errors will have to wait until I'm home before getting fixed.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
IVF #9 Trigger Tomorrow
Cycle day 9 monitoring results this morning: FSH 9.7 LH 8.8 E2 1235
Follicles: 18, 18, 13, 12, 12, 11, 10
My meds this cycle were for half a tab of clomid and I did gonal f 150ius on CD 6 and 8. I am to continue the clomid today and tomorrow with the Lupron trigger shot tomorrow night. Retrieval is set for Saturday morning!
Flights are crazy expensive this time. By far the highest prices we have encountered in all my trips to California. Usually we can get a round trip ticket for $500 or less and this time the tickets are closer to $1K. Yikes. We're still looking though and hopefully a good deal will pop up.
We're still trying to decide between the two or three cycle package. I'm hoping I can decide after the egg retrieval. Depending on how many I get I think will help me finally decide. I wish I had a crystal ball sometimes.
Follicles: 18, 18, 13, 12, 12, 11, 10
My meds this cycle were for half a tab of clomid and I did gonal f 150ius on CD 6 and 8. I am to continue the clomid today and tomorrow with the Lupron trigger shot tomorrow night. Retrieval is set for Saturday morning!
Flights are crazy expensive this time. By far the highest prices we have encountered in all my trips to California. Usually we can get a round trip ticket for $500 or less and this time the tickets are closer to $1K. Yikes. We're still looking though and hopefully a good deal will pop up.
We're still trying to decide between the two or three cycle package. I'm hoping I can decide after the egg retrieval. Depending on how many I get I think will help me finally decide. I wish I had a crystal ball sometimes.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Injection Pen - Not For Me
This cycle I'm doing a couple of booster shots of gonal f. The prescription that came from the pharmacy was the gonal f in the injectible pen. I've only dealt with vials previously. After using the pen I'm really not impressed. To start with, if I have to read the directions more than once to figure out what to do, and squint at the diagram multiple times, the process is already too complicated. It's bulky and clunky and takes way too many steps. It's awkward to inject. Give me a powder vial and saline any day. So much easier, faster, and insulin needles inject it so much smoother. I've already decided that if I ever need more gonal f I'm requesting the vial form. The pen is just an over priced novelty. And the biggest issue I have is that if you draw up a dose that is too much, you're screwed and have to waste the meds. No thank you! I prefer to have more control over my high priced meds.
Thursday, July 3, 2014
IVF #9 Learned Something New
You know how some people stop keeping track of their birthdays? I'm thinking I should stop keeping track of my cycles...it's depressing.
Well, looks like I have a little cyst hanging around. Dealing with cysts is something new for me. There was a larger one last cycle that I canceled, but I didn't think much of it since we didn't go ahead with the cycle. Baseline showed a 14mm cyst which I've come to learn is relatively small. FSH was 17.2 and E2 was <20. My AFC was at its lowest ever at 8, but since we're not going for large quantities of eggs I'm willing to move forward with the cycle. After some internet digging it seems to be common to have fewer antral follicles on a cycle when you have a cyst. I know it fluctuates, so I'm not too worried at this point.
Orders are to take half a tab of clomid daily and I'll do two booster shots of gonal F on CD 6 and 8. I monitor again on CD 9.
We need to decide soon on which cycle package to go with. Prior to having my last cycle canceled and now dealing with a cyst, we were leaning towards the two cycle package, but now I'm wondering if we shouldn't go with the three cycle. If I could choose how things worked I would get at least 2-3 high quality blasts this cycle, and then transfer after taking a month off. But as a back-up, if this cycle doesn't end with good blasts, then we would bank again before transferring, which is why I was leaning towards the two cycle package. But now that this cycle is looking a little iffy, I wonder if we shouldn't go with the three cycle package just in case. I just don't know what to do and my husband is of no help whatsoever. He's given me the "whatever you think is best" meaning he hasn't put much thought into it and he doesn't want to get blamed if the outcome isn't what we hoped for. He is a great support, but sometimes, I just wish he had more of an opinion.
Well, looks like I have a little cyst hanging around. Dealing with cysts is something new for me. There was a larger one last cycle that I canceled, but I didn't think much of it since we didn't go ahead with the cycle. Baseline showed a 14mm cyst which I've come to learn is relatively small. FSH was 17.2 and E2 was <20. My AFC was at its lowest ever at 8, but since we're not going for large quantities of eggs I'm willing to move forward with the cycle. After some internet digging it seems to be common to have fewer antral follicles on a cycle when you have a cyst. I know it fluctuates, so I'm not too worried at this point.
Orders are to take half a tab of clomid daily and I'll do two booster shots of gonal F on CD 6 and 8. I monitor again on CD 9.
We need to decide soon on which cycle package to go with. Prior to having my last cycle canceled and now dealing with a cyst, we were leaning towards the two cycle package, but now I'm wondering if we shouldn't go with the three cycle. If I could choose how things worked I would get at least 2-3 high quality blasts this cycle, and then transfer after taking a month off. But as a back-up, if this cycle doesn't end with good blasts, then we would bank again before transferring, which is why I was leaning towards the two cycle package. But now that this cycle is looking a little iffy, I wonder if we shouldn't go with the three cycle package just in case. I just don't know what to do and my husband is of no help whatsoever. He's given me the "whatever you think is best" meaning he hasn't put much thought into it and he doesn't want to get blamed if the outcome isn't what we hoped for. He is a great support, but sometimes, I just wish he had more of an opinion.
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
All You Need To Do Is Ask
I went in for an acupuncture session yesterday. My period still had not shown up. Apparently there are some points they can do to help get things moving. Well. It worked. Almost too well.
The moment I arrived home from acupuncture I had an intense hotflash for a good 15minutes. Ten hours after my session and my period arrived in full force. It has been awhile since a period has made me so uncomfortable. I was lucky if I had more than a couple hours of sleep last night. I really, really hate having to take anything for pain so I tried to do my best without it. Finally about 4am I couldn't take it anymore and caved and took two ibuprofen. Thankfully it helped me get a little bit more sleep when it kicked in. Still having some pretty noticeable cramping, but nothing a heating pad and a nap won't fix. I have my baseline scheduled for tomorrow morning.
Please let IVF #9 be a good one. Please.
The moment I arrived home from acupuncture I had an intense hotflash for a good 15minutes. Ten hours after my session and my period arrived in full force. It has been awhile since a period has made me so uncomfortable. I was lucky if I had more than a couple hours of sleep last night. I really, really hate having to take anything for pain so I tried to do my best without it. Finally about 4am I couldn't take it anymore and caved and took two ibuprofen. Thankfully it helped me get a little bit more sleep when it kicked in. Still having some pretty noticeable cramping, but nothing a heating pad and a nap won't fix. I have my baseline scheduled for tomorrow morning.
Please let IVF #9 be a good one. Please.
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